Speaking of Dealers - Read this strategic vision

[THALL10326]

Yes, some people do this, even though it is wrong. There are always those that think the world owes them a living...but maybe that harkens back to plain ol' bad parenting (and a topic for a different discussion).

As a professional carpenter, I like Ryobi tools. Inexpensive, and reliable enough to do the job long enough to more than pay for themselves many times over.
You see, I use to buy the best tools possible...until two things happened. The first being that almost all tools ended up being made in the same place (Japan or China) regardless of manufacturer.
The second being the realization that while on the jobsite your tools have a tendency to get used by others all the time ....others who treat them with a lot less care and respect then the guy who bought them does....thrashing them in the process. (And there is no way of getting around letting others use your stuff, either, as there inevitably comes a time when you yourself will need to borrow a tool from someone else.) Anyways, Ryobi tools tend to hold up to such thrashings as good as any, and better than most...for a hell of a lot less money. Simple economics, really.

Durn Sap are ya saying Ryobi will hold up as good as a Milwaukee????

 

[THALL10326]

Interesting links. Thanks.

I see it like this:



Service-
Unless the small dealers can step up to the plate and compete with the box store by offering a better level of customer service than the box stores can, then they (small dealerships) are doomed. By better level of service, I mean that they must be able to accept returned goods for 30 days (minimum) just like the box stores do...with almost no questions asked.
Small dealerships must also be able to help consumers with warranty claims and/or repairs, and not simply shine the customer on. The box stores haven't yet got a handle on this level of service, but I have a sneaking suspicion that they eventually will....and if they do, and the small dealerships don't get better at it, then the small dealerships will go extinct.


ARE YOU ON CRACK?!, I am a small dealership. People come to me after getting totally pissed off with the big box stores. I get the privilege of telling customers that the box store lied to them and the reconditioned producet they bought has NO warranty not the "full warranty just like a new one" that the idiot in the box store told them it had.
I do like when the customer is amazed that I actually do repairs on site and don't have to send stuff anywhere. I fixed a Craftsman mower last year in the parking lot for a guy who didn't want to let Sears send it to Pennsylvania, I'm in New York 45 minuted form the PA border. He was told by Sears that they'd get him his mower a.s.a.p. ,................about 3 weeks! The MANUFACTURER is the one that has to underwrite a return policy. If it was on the shoulders of the dealer, the public would but the dealer out of business. If there was a 7 or 14 or 30 day no questions asked return policy then people would "buy" all the equipment they needed for a project, use it, and return it. Free is better than a rental house. Would you buy a piece of equipment that someone else returned? For how much $ off? Let it go for cost? How does the dealer survive? Your model does not work, there are no power equipment dealers on Fantasy Island.

Sedanman gotta hand it to ya, you hit the nail on the head. A 30 day return policy like Sap is talking about would be awesome for the low life that only wants to do a job and return it. I too could then buy a saw or whatever, do my project in less than 30 days and bring it back and say uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I don't really like this thing, I want my money back. Thats after I got my job done of course. I sold a little MM55 Stih mini tiller the other day to a feller. Frist thing he ask me was can I bring it back if I don't like it. First thing I said was nope. You use it its yours buddy. Even sweet little ole me doesn't fall for that bull. I told him if it fails in any such way I'll be glad to handle it under warrenty but other than that she's yours once you start using it. As for the return in 7 day policy Stihl has one thing must remembered on that, the dealer must agree to it and I for one don't. I called Stihl about it and they told me upfront it was up to the dealer to agree with it, if not then we don't have to offer a 7 day return policy and I sure as hell don't. I've seen way too many deals by slippery customers who try to pull off the "I don't really like it, after they have done what they needed to get done". This ole boy tells em like it is when they pull that number. We had a gal buy her hubby a trimmer. A month later she brought it back covered in green slime stating he really didn't like it. Instead of making a issue out of it guess what we did. We took it back and made it clear to her we don't want her to come back. She hasn't and good ridden. Some customers aren't worth the pita they are. I'm with you Sedanman 100% on this issue. Good post.

 

[spacemule]

Thal, what if the customer really did buy the wrong saw and wants to exchange it for a different one, you still hold to your policy?

 

[THALL10326]

Thal, what if the customer really did buy the wrong saw and wants to exchange it for a different one, you still hold to your policy?

If he truthfully tells me what he's using it for he will get the right saw. I go by what I'm told and if the customer is being honest he will go out the door with a saw that will do the job................

 

[Rspike]

If he truthfully tells me what he's using it for he will get the right saw. I go by what I'm told and if the customer is being honest he will go out the door with a saw that will do the job................

Dont you do this in the first place as a dealer? If so he should of got the right saw to start with . Sounds like the BIG other thread that was started over the wrong chainsaw being sold in the first place .

 

[spacemule]

Yes, but personal tastes differ. What if he discovers he prefers something other than your recommendation? I think you may be going too far the other way.

 

[Lakeside53]

Not sure how to answer that with the picture of you and the gun, but...


We get half a dozen a year that want to return. I didn't know we had any choice in the matter... Never had the HD "rental type" mainly 'cos they know they'd never get away with it... Mostly they made a bad choice of saw/trimmer/blower. We get a choice (from Stihl NW) of keeping it and getting 10% back from Stihl, and then reselling it for 10% less with full warranty, or, shipping it back to Stihl for a full dealer cost refund ( but we pay freight). We keep it even though freight is less than $10.


Last Monday I had a guy come back with a trashed chain on his 290 bought the prior week. Seems like his trees doubled in size since he bought the saw . He explained his problems, didn't outright ask, but wanted too... so I offered to let him trade up. He bought a 361, paid the difference is is really happy. The MS290 sold within an hour at 10% off (with a new chain). Made two guys very happy, just for a little of paper work with Stihl.

 

[spacemule]

I'll have to say I've returned only a handful of things in my life and am extremely easy to please. However, your attitude would cause me to not deal with you.

 

[THALL10326]

Dont you do this in the first place as a dealer? If so he should of got the right saw to start with . Sounds like the BIG other thread that was started over the wrong chainsaw being sold in the first place .

Proves the point not all dealers are the same....................

 

[Rspike]

I'll have to say I've returned only a handful of things in my life and am extremely easy to please. However, your attitude would cause me to not deal with you.

I'm with spacemuel on his post. We agree to disagree and now we agree , what a place to be.

 

[TimberPig]

Dont you do this in the first place as a dealer? If so he should of got the right saw to start with . Sounds like the BIG other thread that was started over the wrong chainsaw being sold in the first place .

Maybe you took it differently than I did, but I think he was saying that if the guy tells him what he needs the saw for when he first comes in, he sells the right saw and the guy doesn't come back because the saw was wrong. Despite your experiences, there are good dealers out there that give service and advice that works, and their customers get the right equipment and service to back it up.

 

[THALL10326]

I'll have to say I've returned only a handful of things in my life and am extremely easy to please. However, your attitude would cause me to not deal with you.

Ok lets say you come in and tell me you have some 24inch trees you want to saw up. I recomend something like a 361 and you refuse to buy it and insist instead on a MS180 cause its only 199.95 even though I tell you it wont do what you want it to do. Who is at fault, you or me????

 

[spacemule]

Ok lets say you come in and tell me you have some 24inch trees you want to saw up. I recomend something like a 361 and you refuse to buy it and insist instead on a MS180 cause its only 199.95 even though I tell you it wont do what you want it to do. Who is at fault, you or me????

Ok, let's say I listen to you and buy a 361 and decide it's too gutless for my taste and want a 440, you gonna stick me with a saw I'm not happy with? You're saying you won't even consider swapping saws? I didn't think it was about fault, but rather about keeping honest customers happy. I understand not wanting to take saws back from people who are obviously abusing the privilege.

 

[Lakeside53]

SpaceMule: it's a lot harder than you may think to get sell a customer the "right saw" every time, particularly a 1st time buyer. You're relying a lot on what they tell you... I get it right much of the time, but it can go one of many ways:

- too much of a saw
- the right saw
- the wrong saw
- it WAS the right saw, but now I want to do xyz...
etc...


And it's not just saws...

Take me for instance... as a novice skier a long long time ago, I told them everything I could and ended up with skis and boots I quickly outgrew. Damn, and I did the same thing again... The there was my diving equipment, and my..... o.k. I didn't tell them ('cos I didn't know) I was a type A on steroids and take any pastime to the limits, but as a novice, would they have believed me? But I digress...

I sell the wrong saw, I fix the problem. If the customer made a mistake, I often fix the problem.

I also rarely take anything back. I came from a county where you buy it, you own it, and most of the world outside of the USA is like that... to me it's something like "personal responsibity"...

 

[THALL10326]

Ok, let's say I listen to you and buy a 361 and decide it's too gutless for my taste and want a 440, you gonna stick me with a saw I'm not happy with? You're saying you won't even consider swapping saws? I didn't think it was about fault, but rather about keeping honest customers happy. I understand not wanting to take saws back from people who are obviously abusing the privilege.

Your changing the equation. It went from the 361 to the 180. Now your saying you want a 440 because the 361 wasn't enough. What happened to the 180???

 

[spacemule]

SpaceMule: it's a lot harder than you may think to get sell a customer the "right saw" every time, particularly a 1st time buyer. You're relying a lot on what they tell you... I get it right much of the time, but it can go one of many ways:

- too much of a saw
- the right saw
- the wrong saw
- it WAS the right saw, but now I want to do xyz...
etc...


And it's not just saws...

Take me for instance... as a novice skier a long long time ago, I told them everything I could and ended up with skis and boots I quickly outgrew. Damn, and I did the same thing again... The there was my diving equipment, and my..... o.k. I didn't tell them ('cos I didn't know) I was a type A on steroids and take any pastime to the limits, but as a novice, would they have believed me? But I digress...

I sell the wrong saw, I fix the problem. If the customer made a mistake, I often fix the problem.

I also rarely take anything back. I came from a county where you buy it, you own it, and most of the world outside of the USA is like that... to me it's something like "personal responsibity"...

I can go along with your business policy. You're not getting into trying to blame a customer for not getting the right saw or telling you what they need, as if pinning blame on someone has anything to do with good business. I've never returned a major purchase like a chainsaw, and I don't expect to ever try returning one. However, Thal's attitude puts me off a bit. Perhaps it's just me.

 

[spacemule]

Thal, read Lakeside's post. I think you could learn something from him.

 

[Rspike]

Your changing the equation. It went from the 361 to the 180. Now your saying you want a 440 because the 361 wasn't enough. What happened to the 180???

I think you made up the 180 thing and was way off to compare for your sake. Some buyers dont know the difference but i dont think someone is going to be needing a big saw for a big tree and goes to the Stihl dealer for the 180 after all told. I think maybe a 361 to a 290 or maybe but the 180 just dont sound right.

 

[THALL10326]

Thal, read Lakeside's post. I think you could learn something from him.

Space its not the attitude you dont like, its the truth I'm saying. Why should I take back something I sold to a customer based on exactly what he told me. Now if hew refuses to buy it I can't force him but if he buys a lesser saw than he needs and comes back boo hooing it wont do the job, like I told him in the first place, what am I suppose to do?

 

[Rspike]

Space its not the attitude you dont like, its the truth I'm saying. Why should I take back something I sold to a customer based on exactly what he told me. Now if hew refuses to buy it I can't force him but if he buys a lesser saw than he needs and comes back boo hooing it wont do the job, like I told him in the first place, what am I suppose to do?

Do like Lakeside stated , make the buyer happy , he tells all his friends about the great dealer he has , the buyer ends up on AS with a great story of "his dealer" and how great of a guy he is and a pro at doing his job . The final ? you might have 6 more buyers walking in your door as well as the first guy happy .